Mumbai: Red sanders smuggler arrested after hrs of questioning, gets ED custody

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested red sanders smuggler Badshah Malik in a money laundering case of Rs 48 crore after several hours of questioning and produced him before the court. The court remanded him in ED custody till December 24.
On Monday, ED had raised seven premises related to Badshah Malik and his associates in Mumbai. Badshah routed ill-gotten wealth through shell companies into his account, ED officials said, and ED believes that the money was proceeds of smuggling, and he failed to provide a proper explanation. ED also searched the residences of his accomplices, Harshavardhan Hegde and Vijay Poojary, in Mumbai in connection with the case. The agency recorded Hegde’s statement, whereas Poojary was untraceable. It is alleged Poojary, along with Badshah, was smuggling red sanders to Middle East countries for the last many years. Exports of red sanders are banned.
The ED is based on a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) 2015 case where it had arrested Hegde along with Badshah for smuggling red sanders worth crores. ED believed Badshah had invested money he earned through illegal activities in properties. Officials are examining Badshah’s companies and properties he owned in Mumbai and adjoining districts. ED is also investigating the ‘suspicious’ money received by Badshah’s company before the DRI case. Badshah has been involved in red sanders smuggling for many years and had faced arrest in similar cases on earlier occasions.
According to the DRI’s case, in 2015, they arrested Harshavardhan Hegde, director of Mumbai-based Emirates Shipping Agencies India Pvt Ltd, after intercepting a container at Nhava Sheva and recovered 7,800 metric tons of red sanders worth several crores. Later, Malik was arrested. The DRI also investigated Vijay Poojary, who had a home in Mumbai but would operate from Andhra Pradesh.